Supreme Court of India
COMMISSIONER OF INCOME-TAX, NEW DELHI (NOW RAJASTHAN)versusEAST WEST IMPORT & EXPORT (P).LTD.,(NOW KNOWN AS ASIAN DISTRIBUTORS LTD), JAIPUR
- Citation
- 1989 INSC 48
- Decided
- 8 February 1989
- Disposal
- Appeal(s) allowed
- Bench
- R S PATHAK
Holding
The phrase 'in the course of such previous year' means the entire previous year, so the shares must have been freely transferable throughout that period; the assessee did not meet this condition and is not eligible for the tax benefit under Section 23A(1).
Summary
The Commissioner of Income Tax appealed against the tax benefit claimed by East West Import & Export Ltd. under Section 23A(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1922, which required that shares carrying at least 25% of voting power be freely transferable throughout the previous year. The company had removed transfer restrictions on 26 March 1951, making the shares freely transferable only for a few days before the year‑end. The Income Tax Officer and the Appellate Assistant Commissioner held that the requirement was not satisfied, but the Tribunal and the High Court reversed that view. The Supreme Court examined the meaning of the phrase "in the course of such previous year" in the Explanation to Section 23A(1). It held that "course" denotes a continuous period, meaning the shares must have been freely transferable for the entire previous year, not merely at its end. Consequently, the Court allowed the appeal, set aside the High Court order, and held that the assessee was not a company in which the public were substantially interested, denying the tax benefit.
Issues considered
- Whether the phrase 'in the course of such previous year' in the Explanation to Section 23A(1) requires free transferability of shares throughout the entire previous year.
- Whether the assessee satisfied the conditions of Section 23A(1) to be deemed a company in which the public are substantially interested.
Legislation cited
- Income Tax Act, 1922s. 23A(1), s. 66(1)
Subjects
Income TaxSection 23Afree transferabilitypublic intereststatutory interpretationtax benefitcompany sharessuper‑tax
Judgment
A
COMMISSIONER OF INCOME-TAX, NEW DELHI
(NOW RAJASTHAN)
v.
EAST WEST IMPORT & EXPORT (P).LTD.,
(NOW KNOWN AS ASIAN DISTRIBUTORS LTD), JAIPUR.·
B FEBRUARY 8, 1989
>
[R.S. PATHAK, CJ AND RANGANATH MISRA, J.]
Income Tax Act, 1922: Section 23A (I) & Explanation- --'.~
Requirement "If any such shares have been in the course of such
C previous years"-"Are in fact freely transferable by the holders to the
other members of public"-"In the course of such previous year"-
lnterpretation of-Whether means 'throughout the year' or 'any part of ~
it'.
Statutory Interpretation: Situation differently expressed by the
D Legislature-Indication that Legislature intended to express different
intention.
Words and Phrases: 'In the course of such previous year'-
Meaning of
E Under articles 4, 81 and 82 of the Articles of Association of the
respondent assessee company there was restriction on the transfer of
the shares of the company by the shareholders to the other members of
the public. These articles were deleted at an extraordinary general
meeting of the Company held on 26th March, 1951 and consequently
the shares of the Company acquired free transferability. For the~
accounting year ending 31st March, 1951 the assessee company claimed ;-
*
F
tax benefit u/s 23A(l) on the ground that by reason of the fact that its
shares had acquired free transferability 'in the course of the previous
year' the company had become 'a company in which public are substan-
tially interested'. ·
G The Iocome Tax Officer rejected the claim of the assessee com-
pany by holding that while Explanation to Section 23A(l) requires that
the shares should have been freely transferable by the shareholders to
the other members of the public at every point of time during the
previous year and transferability should be established by actual trans-
fer; 'the Company satisfied the requirement only for four or five days of
H the previous year.
570
COMMR. OF INCOME TAX v. EAST WEST IMPORT & EXPORT 571
On appeal the Appellate Assistant Commissioner affirmed the A
view taken by the Income Tax Officer. The assessee company appealed
to the Tribunal against the decisfon of the Appellate Assistant Commis-
sioner. The Tribunal accepted the contention of the assessee and
allowed the appeal.
A reference under Section 66(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1922 was B
made to the High Court at thdnstance of the Revenue which approved
the view taken by the Appellate Tribunal, and held that the conditions
required hy the Explanation to Section 23A(l) were satisfied and the
benefit thereunder was availahie to the assessee company.
In the appeal by Special leave by the Revenue to this Court on the
question: whether the assessee had satisfied the requirements of the
c
Explanation to Section 23A(l) of the Act, and was entitled to the tax
benefit claimed.
Allowing the appeal and setting aside the order of the High Court,
D
HELD: 1. The Tribunal and the High Court went wrong in hold-
ing that the conditions required by the Explanation to Section- 23A(J)
were satisfied and the benefit under the said section was available to the
~ assessee. [575FI
2. The assessee company could not be held to be a company in E
which the public were substantially interested within the meaning of the
Explanation to Section 23A(l) by reason of the fact that for a large part
of the previous year the shares were not freely transferable, though they
were so transferable at the end of the previous year. [574G I
\
.. &..
~\ · 3. The word 'Course' ordinarily conveys the meaning of a con- F
· tinuous progressfrom one point to the next in time or space and conveys
the idea of a period of time; duration and not a fixed point of time. The
expression 'in the course of such previous year' would refer to the
period commencing with the beginning of the previous year, and
terminating with the end of the previous year. Therefore, it would
necessarily mean that free transferability of the shares by the holders to G
other members of the public should be present throughout the previous
_._., ye,ar. This was not the position in the in-slant case, as the transferability
was acquired only on the 26th of March, 1951. [5750-FJ
4. The Explanation to Section 23A(l) has reference to the point of
time at two places: the first one has been stated as 'at the end of the H
572 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1989] 1 S.C.R.
A previous year' and the second is 'in the course of such previous year'. --f
When the situation has been differently expressed the legislature must
be taken to have intended to express a different intention. [57SB-D]
C.I. T. v. Afco (P) Ltd. [1963] 48 I.T.R. 76, referred to.
B CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 1294 )
(NT) of 1975.
From the Judgment and order dated 16.7.74 of the Bombay
High Court in LT. Reference No. 22of1965.
C S.C. Manchanda, M.K. Sashidharan and Ms. A. Subhashini for
the Appellant.
Harish. N. Salve, Parveen Kumar and V. Gambhir for the
Respondent.
D The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
RANGANATH MISRA, J. This appeal is by special leave and is
directed against the judgment of the Bombay High Court dated
16.7.1974 on a reference made under Section 66(1) of the Income Tax ~
Act, 1922. The year of assessment is 1951-52 corresponding to the
E accounting year ending 31.3.1951. The question referred by the Tri-
bunal to the High Court at the instance of the Revenue was:
"Whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case,
the assessee company could not be held to be a company in
which the public were substantially interested within the _); .
F meaning of Explanation of section 23A(l) by reason of the (~
fact that the shares of the company carrying not less than
twenty-five per cent of its voting power were not, in fact,
freely transferable by holders to other members of the
public for a large part of the previous year even though
they were freely transferable as at the end of the previous
G year?"
Initially the company was incorporated as a private limited com-
pany at Jaipur on 24.12.1942 and was known as Messrs Rajputana
Investment Company Private Limited. Under articles 4, 81 and 82 of
the Articles of Association of the company there was restriction on the
H transfer of the shares of the Company by the shareholders to other
COMMR. OFJNCOMETAXv. EASTWESTIMPORT&EXPORT IMISRA,J.] 573
members of the public. These articles were deleted at an extraordinary A
general meeting of the Company held on 26th March, 1951, and
following the deletion, the restriction on transfer of shares was re-
moved. So was the limit of number of shareholders. On the basis of the
amendment the assessee claimed relief under s. 23A( 1) of the 1922 Act
by pleading that all the statutory requirements were satisfied. The B
Income Tax Officer refused to accept the stand of the assessee on the
ground that while the Explanation contained in s. 23A(l) of the Act
required that in course of the previous year the shares were freely
transferable by the holders to other members of the public, the com-
pany came to satisfy the requirement only for four or five days of the
year. The Appellate Assistant Commissioner adopted the same view
whereupon the assessee appealed to the Tribunal. The Tribunal C
accepted the stand of the assessee and allowed the appeal, whereupon
at the instance of the Revenue the aforesaid question was referred and
the case was stated to the High Court under s. 66(1) of the 1922 Act.
The High Court found for the assessee and against the Revenue. That
has led to the present appeal by special leave. D
As pointed out above, the short point for consideration in this
appeal is as to whether the assessee satisfied the requirements of the
Explanation to s. 23A(l) of the Act so as to be entitled to the tax
benefit. This Court pointed out in the case of C.l. T. v. Afco (P) Ltd.,
[1963] 48 ITR 76: E
"S.ection 23A was enacted to prevent evasion of liability to
pay super-tax by shareholders of certain classes of com-
panies taking advantage of the disparity between the rates
of super-tax payable by individuals and by the companies.
-~. The rates of super-tax applicable to companies being lower
than the highest rates. applicable to individual assessees, to
F
prevent individual assessees from avoiding the higher
incidence of super-tax by the expedient of transferring to
companies the sources of their income, and thereby secur-
ing instead of dividends the benefit of the profits of the
company, the Legislature by Act XXI of 1930, as modified G
by Act VII of 1939, enacted a special provision in s. 23A
investing the Income-tax Officer with power, in certain
contingencies prescribed jn the section to order that the
undistributed balance of the assessable income reduced by
the amount of taxes and the dividends shall be deemed to
have been distributed at the date of the general meeting." H
574 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1989] 1 S.C.R.
The Explanation provided:
A
"For the purpose of this sub-section,-
a company shall be deemed to be a company in which
the public are substantially interested if shares of the -com-
B pany (not being shares entitled to a fixed rate of dividend,
whether with or without a further right to participate in
>
profits) carrying not less than twenty-five per cent of the
voting power have been allotted unconditionally to, or
acquired unconditionally by, and are at the end of the previ- '
ous year beneficially held by, the public (not including a -~
company to which the provisions of this sub-section apply)
c and if any such shares have in the course of such previous
year been the subject of dealings in any stock exchange in ~
the taxable territories or are in fact freely transferable by the
holders to other members of the public."
D The only question that has engaged the attention of the Tribunal
and the High Court at the instance of the respective parties is as to
whether the shares were freely transferable by the holders to other
members of the public in the course of the previous year. As we have
already pointed out, the Income Tax Officer and the first appellate ~
authority held that the terms in the Explanation required that the
E shares should have been freely transferable by the shareholders to
other members of the public at every point of time during the previous
year and transferability should be established by actual transfer. The
Tribunal and the High Court took the view that it was not necessary
that as a fact there should have been some transfer of such shares but
transferability as an incidence should have been at every point of time
F during the whole of the previous year. That being the short question -~
\-
on which this appeal can be effectively disposed of, there is no neces-
sity to refer to other aspects which had been canvassed at earlier
stages.
Indisputably, until 26th of March, 1951, the shares were not
G · freely transferable in view of the three provisions in the Articles and
with the deletion of those, free transferability of the shares was
acquired. There has been no dispute before us that the requirement "if
.>-'
any such shares have been in the course of such previous yea(_' would
also apply to the last requirement "are in fact freely transferable by the
holders to other members of the public". The only contentious aspect
H is as to whether "in the course of such previous year" would mean
throughout the year or any part of it.
COMMR. OF INCOME TAX v. EASTWESTIMPORT & EXPOJl.T [MISRA, J.] 575
t- There is no difect authority indicating the true meaning of this A
requirement in the Explanation one way or the other. The purpose of.
enacting s. 23A, as pointed out in Afco's case, was to control evasion
of tax.
The Explanation has reference to the point of time at two places: B
the first one has been stated as "at the end of the previous year" and
the second, which is in issue, is "in the course of such previous year".
Counsel for the Revenue has emphasised upon the feature that in the
same Explanation reference to time has been expressed differently and
if the legislative intention was not to distinguish and while stating "in
the course of such previous year" it wa·s intended to convey the idea of
the last day of the previous year, there would have been no necessity of c
expressing the position differently. There is abundant authority to
support the stand of the counsel for the Revenue that when the situa-
tion has been differently expressed the legislature must be taken to
have intended to express a different intention. ·
D
'Course' ordinarily conveys the meaning of a continuous prog-
ress from one point to the next in time or space and conveys the idea of
a period of time; duration and not a fixed point of time. "In the course
of such previous year" would, therefore, refer to the period commenc-
~ ing with the beginning of the previous year and terminating with the
end of the previous year. If that be the meaning of the phrase "in the
E
course of such previous year", it would necessarily mean that free
transferability of the shares by the holders to other members of the
public should be present throughout the previous year. Admittedly
that was not the position in this case as transferability was acquired
only on 26th of March, 1951. We are of the view that the Tribunal and
1 the High Court went wrong in holding that the conditions required by
F
A. ~the Explanation were satisfied and the benefit under the section was
available to the assessee.
The appeal is allowed .. The order of the High Court approving
the view taken by the Appellate Tribunal is set aside and the question
referred to the High Court is answered thus:
G
"On the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the
~I assessee company could not be held to be a company in
which the public were substantially interested within the
meaning of the Explanation to s. 23A(l) by reason of the
fact that for a large part of the previous year the shares H
576 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1989) I S.C.R.
A were not freely transferable though they were so transfer- -f
able at the end of the previous year."
and against the assessee. Parties are directed to bear their own costs
throughout.
T.N.A. Appeal allowed. ~
...'
'...
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